Aim to reduce bickering, increase stability for coalition govt

(By Paul Virgo)
(ANSA) - Rome, January 7 - Premier Enrico Letta was set to
start talks on Tuesday with the parties supporting his
left-right coalition government on a pact for its policies for
this year.

The aim is to avoid the instability that has dogged
Letta's government for much of the time since it was sworn in in
April after a long deadlock followed February's inconclusive
general election.

Based on an unnatural alliance between Letta's centre-left
Democratic Party (PD) and ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's now
defunct centre-right People of Freedom (PdL) party, it veered
from one crisis to another for much of last year.

Berlusconi's party, which he has revamped under its former
name Forza Italia, pulled its support for the government in
November after the PD supported the drive to have the media
magnate ejected from parliament following the supreme court's
decision to uphold a tax-fraud conviction against him.

Letta has said his government is now in a stronger
position, even though it has a smaller majority in parliament.

The executive survived with the support of the New Centre
Right (NCD) party, a group of pro-government moderates led by
Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who split
from Berlusconi loyalists.

Letta has postponed a summit with Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan that was set to take place in Istanbul on
January 17 to be able to work on the policy pact.
Letta's government has a long list of problems that
urgently need to be addressed.

It is aiming to boost the Italian economy after two years
of recession and combat unemployment that has reached record
levels of 12.5%, with over four in 10 under-25s out of work.

The executive also wants to push through reforms
to cut the cost of Italy's political machinery and make the
country easier to govern.

The government plans to introduce a new election law, after
the previous system was declared illegitimate by the
Constitutional Court, reduce the number of parliamentarians and
curtail the Senate's law-making powers to make it easier to get
legislation through parliament, among other things.

The round of consultations starts Tuesday with a meeting
with the small centrist Civic Choice (SC) party, which was
founded by Letta's predecessor, Mario Monti.
Later this week Letta will meet Alfano and Matteo Renzi,
the 38-year-old mayor of Florennce who has been waging a
campaign for Italy's political old guard to be sent to the scrap
heap and recently took over as leader of the PD.

Alfano and Renzi have expressed major differences in recent
weeks over what the policy pact should cover.

On Friday Alfano struck down the idea proposed by Renzi of
making the legal recognition of civil partnerships - including
same-sex unions - part of the pact.

Alfano also took issue with another suggestion by Renzi for
an overhaul of Italy's tough immigration laws.

The pair also have differences over what the new election
law should be like, with Renzi saying the PD will not limit its
search for agreement on the issue to the NCD, but will also try
to strike a deal with opposition parties.
Problems within the PD could also cause problems for
Letta's executive.

Renzi is on the right of the party and is viewed with
suspicion by many in the PD establishment, especially given his
frequently criticisms of the government for not moving fast
enough on reforms.

The tension within the party erupted at the weekend when
Stefano Fassina, a leftwing PD member, quit as junior economy
minister after Renzi quipped that he did not know who he was.
Fassina said he resigned because a cabinet reshuffle was
needed to reflect the new situation after Renzi won a party
primary in December.